Just before I tackle the main purpose of this article which is to show how to build muscle vegetarian style I will briefly outline the different types of vegetarians. Vegans do not eat dairy products or any other animal by products, pesco-vegetarians will eat fish and dairy products and lacto-ovo vegetarians will drink milk and eat eggs but won’t eat meat. This is enough detail for our purposes here although bear in mind there are a few other types.

Why choose to be a vegetarian?

Due to the nature of the food that vegetarians avoid they are at a significantly reduced risk of the following potentially life threatening diseases :coronary artery disease, hypertension, cancers and diabetes mellitus. As you can see the reasons for becoming vegetarian are quite compelling and that is before we even talk about the idealistic side of things such as saving animals, keeping food available for others, saving the rainforest, being more enviromentally friendly and so on.

Ok , then as a vegetarian how exactly am i going to take on board enough protein?

Well, the answer to for vegetarians is remarkably simple, soy. Soy actually contains more higher levels of protein than beef and is also a complete protein meaning that it contains all eight essential amino acids. Great sourcces of soy include: miso, soy milk, seitan, tempeh, textured soy protein and of course tofu. These can all be put in to a variety of delicous tasting dishes. Beans, rice, seeds, legumes, nuts and even vegetables are another great supply of amino acids which together should ensure you never get short on protein.

Alright so that is protein dealt with but what about vitamins and minerals, particularly zinc, vitamin D, calcium, iron and vitamin B12?

Well, supplements should be taken by vegans for this. Vitamin B 12 is found in dairy products so other types of vegetarians ought to never go short of this. A good meal replacement powder will see that you get adequate amounts of the other. Of course however many minerals and vitamins are easily available in the form of leafy green vegetables and fruit that you should not overlook if you wish to build muscle up vegetarian style.

So, overall there are many health benefits to being a vegetarian and being a vegetarian need not prevent you from achieving your bodybuilding goals. Planning is the key and this is just as true for none vegetarian bodybuilders also. With the above guidelines in mind go ahead and build muscle vegetarian style!!